I 


 • 

Please  preserve  this  Tract,  and  read  It  under  favorable  circumstances. 
Let  others  read  it  also.  Do  not  allow  it  to  be  destroyed. 


PICTURE  OF  THE  MISSIONS 


OF  THE 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH: 


TRACT  SOCIETY,  200  Mulberry-street,  New  York. 

NO.  547. 


BEQUESTS. 


>4«»< 


"We  respectfully  suggest  to  all  to  whom  God  hath 
given  a  competency,  to  remember  the  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety  in  their  wills,  as  God  hath  prospered  each  one. 
So  did  the  late  Dr.  Olin  say :  I  give  $  to  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  E.  Church,  as 
an  evidence  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  I  hold 
its  great  work  for  the  glory  of  God.  And  a  rugged 
old  farmer  in  the  West,  in  a  missionary  meeting,  said, 
while  the  tears  streamed  from  his  eyes :  Brethren ,  I 
have  adopted  the  Missionary  Society  as  one  of  my 
children  /  1  mean  to  support  it  while  I  live ,  and 
make  it  one  of  my  heirs  when  I  die. 

Let  each  son  and  daughter  of  the  Church  remem¬ 
ber  the  Missionary  Society  in  their  wills,  if  it  be  hut 
to  the  amount  of  a  few  dollars,  if  God  hath  given 
but  little;  but  liberally  if  God  hath  given  bounti¬ 
fully.  And  let  the  bequests  be  without  condition  of 
permanent  investment,  so  that  they  may  be  applied 
for  current  use  in  carrying  on  our  missions.  It  is 
best  that  each  generation  in  the  Church  should  do 
its  own  work  in  its  own  day. 

UglT3  See  form  of  bequest  on  third  page  of  cover. 


s 


No.  547. 


V 

OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


At  the  request  of  several  Annual  Conferences,  this 
brief  statement  of  the  providential  rise,  present  condition, 
and  future  prospects  of  our  missions  is  drawn  up  by  the 
Corresponding  Secretary ,  Rev.  Dr.  Durbust. 

Indian  Missions. 

These  are  the  oldest  missions  of  our  Church.  Their 
origin  indicates  clearly  the  hand  of  a  Divine  Providence. 
They  arose  on  this  wise.  Some  forty  years  ago  there 
dwelt  in  Marietta,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  a  colored 
man  named  John  Stewart.  He  was  deeply  pious,  and 
seemed  to  have  close  and  constant  communion  with  God. 
He  was  powerfully  impressed  that  it  was  his  duty  to  go 
through  the  then  thinly  settled  country  to  the  northwest, 
on  some  divine  mission  which  he  did  not  comprehend. 
He  set  out  from  home  and  traveled  to  the  vicinity  of 
Upper  Sandusky,  in  Ohio,  where  he  found  the  Wyandot 
tribe  of  Indians.  The  same  strange  impression  which 
called  him  to  his  feet  now  constrained  him  to  halt.  The 
Indians  gathered  round  him,  but  could  not  talk  with  him. 
At  length  they  remembered  that  there  was  a  man  of  his 
color  residing  among  them,  and  they  brought  Jonathan 
Painter  to  him.  As  soon  as  they  met  they  knew  they 
were  of  the  same  race,  and  spoke  to  each  other  in  En¬ 
glish.  Stewart  learned  that  Jonathan  ran  away  from 
Kentucky  some  ten  years  before ;  that  he  had  been 
a  Methodist,  but  had  lost  his  religion  and  become 
a  savage  Indian,  and  spoke  their  language  fluently. 
“  God,”  said  Stewart  to  Jonathan,  “has  sent  you  here  to 
assist  me  in  what  I  feel  is  my  mission ;  I  must  preach  the 
Gospel  to  these  Indians  to-morrow,  and  you  must  be  my 


2 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


interpreter .”  The  tears  gushed  out  of  J onathan’s  eyes,  and 
he  exclaimed,  “  How  can  I  interpret  the  Gospel  to  the 
Indians,  when  I  have  no  religion  myself?”  “Then,” 
said  Stewart,  “  you  must  get  religion  to-night,  for  to¬ 
morrow  I  must  preach  to  these  people,  and  you  must  in¬ 
terpret.”  All  that  night  Jonathan  wrestled  with  God 
in  prayer,  and  Stewart  helped  him ;  and  the  next  day 
they  opened  the  kingdom  of  God  to  the  Indians. 

From  this  providential  beginning  our  missions  among 
the  Indians  spread  until  they  have  extended  from  West¬ 
ern  New  York  to  Wisconsin,  and  are  under  the  care  of 
eight  Annual  Conferences.  But  upon  the  division  of  our 
Church  in  1845  the  much  largest  portion  of  the  Indian 
missions  fell  to  the  Church,  South.  At  present  we  em¬ 
ploy  21  missionaries  among  the  Indians,  have  1,066  mem¬ 
bers  and  105  probationers,  and  19  local  preachers.  The 
Church,  South ,  have  an  Indian  Mission  Conference  of 
two  districts,  divided  into  25  circuits,  and  employing  29 
missionaries.  All  this,  both  North  and  South,  is  the 
fruit  of  our  first  Indian  missions,  so  providentially  com¬ 
menced.  To  this  we  are  to  add  the  thousands  of  these 
children  of  the  forest  who  have  been  gathered  to  their 
rest  in  heaven.  Many  of  them  gave  beautiful  examples 
in  their  lives  and  deaths  of  the  power  of  religion.  Let 
the  Church  be  made  to  understand  but  this  small  part  of 
our  missionary  work,  and  she  will  give  all  that  is  neces¬ 
sary  to  prosecute  our  missions. 

African  Missions. 

Our  missions  in  Africa  arose  some  thirty  years  ago, 
thus :  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  and  some  leading  citi- 
.  zens  who  agreed  with  him,  saw,  or  thought  they  saw, 
two  races  of  people  in  this  land  so  dissimilar  that  they 
could  not  intermarry  and  be  cordially  accepted  on  each 
side.  They  concluded  that  these  two  races  never  could 
dwell  together  on  terms  of  equality,  and  they  therefore 
inferred  that  either  they  must  be  peacefully  separated,  or 
come  into  dire  conflict  in  process  of  years.  This  was 
their  view  of  the  difficult  problem  which  they  saw  of¬ 
fering  itself  for  solution.  They  advised  peaceable  sepa¬ 
ration,  and,  to  accomplish  it,  originated  the  American 
Colonization  Society.  Their  main  object  was  to  show 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


3 


the  world  that  the  African  race  was  capable  of  self-gov¬ 
ernment  under  favorable  circumstances,  and  thus  induce 
the  people  of  this  land  to  favor  their  removal  to  Africa, 
and  leave  North  America  to  the  white  race.  So  much 
is  said,  to  showT  the  providential  rise  of  our  African 
missions. 

Among  the  first  colonists  which  were  sent  to  Liberia,  Af¬ 
rica,  were  some  members  of  the  Methodist  Church.  When 
they  were  landed  on  that  distant  and  unknown  coast,  and 
the  ship  had  weighed  anchor  and  turned  her  prow  home¬ 
ward,  they  stood  on  the  beach  and  watched  her  fading 
from  their  view  in  the  distance,  and  when  she  was  gone, 
one  said,  Let  us  pray y  and  they  knelt  down  on  the  sand 
and  prayed.  It  was  Saturday  afternoon.  On  Sunday 
they  had  a  meeting,  and  at  the  close  one  said,  “  What 
shall  we  do  for  preachers  ?”  The  conclusion  was,  to  send 
home  to  the  Church  and  ask  her  to  send  them  preachers. 
Could  the  Church  refuse?  Bishop  Hedding  appointed 
Itev.  M.  B.  Cox,  with  others,  to  go  to  our  brethren  in 
Africa.  Those  who  saw  Brother  Cox  preparing  for  his 
departure  in  1832  will  need  no  exhortation  or  argument 
to  convince  them  that  he  was  called  of  God  to  this  great 
work.  A  little  incident  will  characterize  the  whole. 

Brother  A.  Cummings,  of  the  New  York  World,  met 
Brother  Cox  in  Philadelphia,  and  said  to  him,  u  Brother 
Cox,  why  will  you  go  to  Africa  ?  Do  you  not  know  that 
you  will  die  there  quickly  V>  The  divine  fire  flashed  from 
the  eyes  of  the  missionary ;  his  lips  quivered,  and  he  said : 
“  I  know  I  cannot  live  long  in  Af  rica ,  but  I  hope  to  live 
long  enough  to  get  there;  and  if  God  please  that  my 
bones  shall  lie  in  an  African  grave ,  I  shall  have  estab¬ 
lished  such  a  bond  between  Africa  and  the  Church  at 
home  as  shall  not  be  broken  until  Africa  is  redeemed .” 
He  went  to  Africa  and  died  there  quickly,  and  is  there 
buried ;  and  in  dying  he  said  :  “  Let  a  thousand  fall,  but 
let  not  Africa  be  given  up  A  In  the  missionary  cemetery 
in  Monrovia  there  lie  by  Brother  Cox  eleven  of  the  thous¬ 
and,  and  yet  the  children  of  the  Church  are  ready  to  go, 
serve,  and  die  there. 

The  African  mission  nowT  covers  the  whole  of  the  Be- 
public  of  Liberia,  and  extends  from  Cape  Mount  on  the 
north  to  Cape  Palmas  on  the  south,  say  six  hundred 
miles ;  and  from  the  sea  on  the  wrest  into  the  interior 


4 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


from  ten  to  more  than  fifty  miles  at  one  point.  Within 
its  limits  are  140,000  native  Africans,  accessible  to  the 
mission.  It  exists  as  one  of  our  regular  Annual  Confer¬ 
ences,  with  its  own  missionary  bishop,  (Bishop  Burns  ;) 
is  divided  into  four  presiding  elders’  districts,  and  each 
of  these  into  circuits  and  stations.  The  best  buildings  in 
the  republic  are  academies  built  by  our  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety.  The  following  is  a  tabular  view  of  the  mission,  in 
which,  please  remember,  there  is  not  a  single  white 
person : 

SUMMARY. 


Bishop  Burns .  1 

Members  of  Conference  and  on  trial .  18 

Local  Preachers  employed  .  8 

Members  in  the  Churches,  Americo-Liberians .  1,892 

Probationers .  89 

Native  members .  72 

Week-day  schools .  19 

Scholars .  600 

Sunday-schools.  (Number  not  given.) 

Scholars . 980 

Native  youth  in  families,  on  Bishop  Scott’s  plan,  for  in¬ 
struction  in  letters  and  in  home  and  industrial  affairs. .  32 

Select  youths  educated  for  service  in  the  Missions .  9 


Will  the  Church  allow  our  missionary  work  in  Africa 
to  be  crippled  for  want  of  funds  ?  She  will  not  if  she  is 
made  to  see  it  clearly. 

China  Mission. 

At  least  one  third  of  the  human  race  is  within  the  Chi¬ 
nese  Empire.  Until  lately  they  Avere  inaccessible  to 
Christian  missions.  But  at  the  opening  of  five  ports  for 
trade  some  years  ago,  the  Church  universal  felt  a  poAV- 
erful  impulse  to  send  the  Gospel  to  these  400,000,000  of 
idolaters.  Our  OAvn  Church  felt  the  impulse,  and  in  1847 
sent  her  infant  China  mission  to  Fuhchau,  on  the  Rruer 
Min.  The  city  and  towns  immediately  in  sight  contain 
2,000,000  of  people.  Amid  this  vast  population  our  mis¬ 
sion  planted  the  standard  of  the  cross.  For  ten  years 
they  soAved  in  faith  and  hope,  and  prepared  parsonages, 
and  churches,  and  schools,  believing  that  the  harvest 
would  come.  They  have  not  been  disappointed.  The 
seed  is  springing  up,  and  scarcely  a  monthly  communion 
passes  Avithout  the  baptism  of  adults  and  children,  and 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


5 


their  enrollment  in  the  native  Chinese  Church.  The 
mission  now  extends  into  the  country,  and  the  converts 
are  formed  into  Churches  and  classes,  and  observe  all  the 
forms  and  usages  of  our  Churches  and  classes  at  home. 
God  has  already  raised  up  six  native  helpers  who  faith¬ 
fully  exhort  and  preach  the  Gospel.  One  of  them  has 
charge  of  a  native  society  in  the  country. 

The  arrangements  for  prosecuting  the  missions  are 
most  appropriate  and  efficient.  There  are  already  six 
good  parsonages,  two  good  churches,  besides  two  or 
three  native  structures  for  worship,  a  superior  girls’ 
boarding-school  building,  boys’  boarding-school,  girls’ 
day-school,  a  female  orphan  asylum,  supported  by  com¬ 
mercial  residents  at  the  port;  and  a  complete  printing 
establishment,  to  print  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  collo¬ 
quial  language  of  the  province ;  and  also  books  of  instruc¬ 
tion  for  the  mission,  and  tracts,  and  religious  books. 
This  is  a  brief  view  of  the  materiel  of  the  mission.  The 
following  tabular  views,  added  to  the  above,  will  give  a 
fair  statement  of  the  condition  and  prospect  of  our  China 
mission.  After  having  carefully  read  this,  we  ask,  Can 
the  Church  allow  our  China  mission  to  be  crippled  for 
want  of  support  ? 


MEMBERSHIP. 


Entire  number  of  baptisms. ...  88 

Adults .  62 

Children .  26 

Died  in  the  faith,  males .  8 

Dropped,  for  various  causes. . .  5 


Present  adult  membership ....  54 

Licensed  exhorters .  3 

Increase  in  adult  membership 
this  year .  10 


SUMMARY. 


Missionaries .  7 

Assistants .  8 

Native  helpers .  6 

Churches .  2 

Chapels .  2 

Country  appointments .  2 

City  appointments .  1 

Sunday-school . 1 

Scholars .  80 

Teachers .  6 


English  class .  1 

Members .  8 

Boys’  boarding-school .  1 

Pupils . . .  17 

Girls’ boarding-school .  1 

Pupils .  8 

Gins’  day  school .  1 

Scholars .  8 


Foundling  asylum  for  females.  1 
Foundlings  saved  from  death.  18 


Our  China  mission  is  our  Christian  column,  penetrating 
the  interior  with  the  missionary  columns  of  other 
Churches  ;  and  everything  in  China  indicates  that  the  day 


6 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


is  not  far  distant  when  the  Chinese  will  cease  to  be  idol¬ 
aters,  and  the  government  will  accept  the  Christian  relig¬ 
ion  as  the  religion  of  the  empire.  Will  we,  as  a  Church, 
nobly  do  our  part  ?  Time  will  tell. 

Missions  in  India. 

About  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  foundations 
of  the  British  Empire  were  laid  in  India.  It  now  con¬ 
tains  more  than  150,000,000  of  subjects  who  are  idol¬ 
aters.  They  are  all  accessible  to  Christian  missions  un¬ 
der  the  protection  of  the  British  authority.  The  leading 
Churches  of  Europe  and  America  had  already  sent  their 
missions  into  this  dark  empire  of  Satan.  In  1856  our 
young  and  vigorous  Church  was  moved  by  her  sense  of 
duty,  heightened  by  a  strong  manifestation  of  the  d,esire 
and  expectation  of  the  Christian  world,  to  send  a  mission 
into  the  Northwest  Province,  particularly  comprehend¬ 
ing  the  kingdom  of  Oude  and  the  adjoining  Province  of 
Bareilly,  containing  say  10,000,000  of  people,  being  the 
most  thickly  inhabited  part  of  the  world.  The  banner 
of  the  cross  had  not  been  unfurled  among  them,  except 
by  one  feeble  missionary  agency,  which  voluntarily  gave 
way  upon  the  appearance  of  our  mission  with  the  promise 
of  vigorous  action.  Just  as  the  place  was  selected  where 
first  to  set  up  our  banner,  the  mutiny  broke  out,  and  our 
missionaries  had  to  flee  to  the  mountains.  At  the  close 
of  the  mutiny  in  1857-8,  they  returned  and  began  again 
their  glorious  work.  The  European  population,  consist¬ 
ing  of  civil,  military,  and  commercial  residents  and  citizens, 
seeing  the  vigor  with  which  the  mission  was  recom¬ 
menced,  and  hearing,  as  they  expressed  it,  of  the  great 
Methodist  Church  in  America  as  the  author  and  sup¬ 
porter  of  the  mission,  cordially  proffered  their  aid,  on 
condition  that  its  plan  and  execution  should  be  worthy 
the  field  of  operation  and  the  power  of  the  Church  at 
home.  The  plan  was  clearly  drawn  up  by  the  mission 
and  sent  home,  and  was  by  the  Board  and  General  Com¬ 
mittee  approved,  though  not  formally  engaged  to  be  ex¬ 
ecuted  as  a  whole  plan.  And  yet  a  declaration  of  pur¬ 
pose  to  carry  it  out  was  made  to  the  mission,  should 
Providence  continue  to  favor  us.  This  declaration  was 
satisfactory  to  the  mission  in  India,  and  to  our  European 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


7 


friends  there,  and  they  have  gone  forward  in  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  the  plan.  The  European  residents  promised  to 
give,  in  cash ,  one  half  of  the  expense  of  a  good  mission¬ 
ary  residence  for  every  missionary  sent ,  the  Board  sup¬ 
plying  the  other  half.  They  further  promised  to  aid  in 
building  school-houses  and  churches,  and  to  assist  in 
supporting  teachers,  all  on  condition  that  the  mission 
should  be  vigorously  prosecuted  according  to  expecta¬ 
tion.  They  have  nobly  done  their  part,  and  the  Board, 
up  to  this  present  year  of  trouble,  has  nobly  clone  its 
part.  We  have  requested  our  mission  in  India  to  assure 
our  European  friends  there  that  we  will  do  our  best  if  they 
will  stand  by  our  missions  in  this  our  year  of  peril  and 
trial.  Not  one  of  these  principal  European  contributors 
is  a  Methodist,  and  yet  some  of  them  have  given  as  much 
as  $1,000  a  year;  others  $700,  $500,  $300,  and  so  on 
down  to  $5  each.  In  alluding  to  these  donations  in  India, 
Dr.  Butler,  superintendent,  says :  u  There  have  been 
raised  in  India  in  two  and  a  half  years  (ending  in  1860) 
over  $15,000  to  enable  the  Board  to  send  us  the  men 
needed  for  this  vast  field.”  Since  1860  the  Europeans 
have  continued  to  aid  us  as  heretofore.  Our  mission 
property  in  India,  created  since  1857,  and  wholly  free 
from  debt,  so  that  we  pay  neither  rent  nor  interest  in 
the  mission,  is  worth,  say  $30,000.  The  following  ex¬ 
hibit  will  show  what  it  is  : 


Nineteen  missionary  residences,  valued  at . $25,402 

Five  chapels,  cost .  4,920 

Native  teachers  and  preachers’  houses,  Sadidgunge. . . .  300 

Two  school-houses  of  a  regular  character .  ..  1,025 

Miscellaneous  property,  building  materials,  etc .  2,250 


Making  a  grand  total  of . $33,897 


Add  to  the  European  contributions  contained  in  the 
above  sum  what  they  have  given  since,  and  it  will  exceed 
$20,000,  or  nearly  one  fifth  of  the  expenses  of  our  mis¬ 
sion  from  the  first,  one  third  of  which  the  mission  has 
now  in  unincumbered  property. 

The  spiritual  aspects  of  the  mission  are  no  less  en¬ 
couraging,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  tabular  view 
prepared  in  September,  1861. 


8 


OUE  MISSIONAEY  PICTUEE. 


G-eneral  Table  of  Statistics. 

Nineteen  new  parsonages . 


Missionaries . 17 

Their  wives .  16 

Native  preachers .  6 

“  exhorters .  6 

Places  of  worship .  10 

Church  members,  native .  93 

Baptisms . 57 

English  Church  members .  68 

School-houses .  7 

Schools .  18 

D&y  scholars . 457 

Teachers .  12 

Sabbath  scholars .  223 

Orphans  in  Asylum . . .  100 


Each  city  occupied  by  the  missionaries  is  a  station, 
and  is  the  center  of  a  circuit,  and  the  missionary  force 
in  each  at  the  proper  season  of  the  year  itinerates  amid 
the  surrounding  villages  and  cities,  and  preaches  the 
Gospel  in  the  streets,  bazars,  and  in  their  own  traveling 
tents,  so  that  Dr.  Butler  says  not  less  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  villages  and  cities  have  been  thus  visited 
this  year. 

This  is  a  brief  sketch  of  our  infant  mission  in  India. 
It  holds  out  great  promise,  if  the  Church  will  sustain  it 
in  this  our  time  of  peril.  Who  in  the  Church  would  not 
gladly  give  from  ten  to  fifty  cents  a  year,  nay,  even  fifty 
dollars,  rather  than  this  mission  should  be  crippled  ? 


Bulgarian  Mission. 

F our  millions  of  Sclavonians  live  in  Bulgaria,  in  Euro¬ 
pean  Turkey,  a  country  bounded  by  the  Danube,  the 
Balkan  Mountains,  and  the  Black  Sea.  They  observe 
the  rites  of  the  Greek  Church,  but  have  been  for  years 
dissatisfied  with  its  government,  and  hence  have  urged 
the  American  Board  to  extend  their  mission  to  them 
from  Constantinople.  This  it  could  not  do  for  the  want 
of  men  and  means,  and  therefore  it  informally  applied  to 
the  Methodist  Board  to  send  a  mission  to  Bulgaria* 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


9 


Upon  careful  inquiry  we  found  the  people  resolutely 
determined  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the  imperious 
authority  of  the  Greek  Church.  They  were  beginning 
to  feel  the  impulse  of  investigation  and  freer  thought, 
which  point  to  a  higher  civilization  and  greater  freedom. 
It  was  ascertained  that  these  longings  for  religious  liberty 
sympathized  strongly  with  the  powerful  Protestant  ele¬ 
ment  in  Hungary,  which  lies  near  at  hand,  and  through 
Hungary  with  the  scattered  fragments  of  Protestantism 
in  Southern  Russia.  A  Protestant  mission  was  needed 
to  give  encouragement,  instruction,  and  advice  to  these 
disjointed  and  distracted  elements  of  Protestantism.  Un¬ 
der  these  circumstances  our  General  Missionary  Com¬ 
mittee  authorized  the  mission;  and  in  1857  Brothers 
Prettyman  and  Long  were  sent,  and  are  preaching  to  the 
people  is.  their  own  language,  and  instructing  and  guid¬ 
ing  them  informally  in  their  efforts  to  attain  to  religious 
freedom  and  a  pure  religious  experience. 

In  the  mean  time  well-defined  rumors  reached  us  that 
there  was  a  remarkable  people  in  the  city  of  Tulcha, 
near  the  Black  Sea,  who  were  Protestants,  as  to  the 
doctrines  and  worship  of  the  Greek  Church.  This  re¬ 
minded  us  of  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Flocken,  one  of  our  German 
missionaries  in  America,  who  was  born  in  the  south  of 
Russia,  and  spoke  the  language  of  these  strange  people. 
We  sent  him  quickly  to  Tulcha  with  instructions  to  ex¬ 
amine  and  report  to  us. 

Molakans  is  the  popular  name  of  these  people,  because 
they  live  chiefly  on  milk.  Brother  Flocken’s  account  is 
in  substance  as  follows :  They  reject  the  ritual  of  the 
Greek  Church,  and  all  pictures  in  churches ;  are  simple 
and  earnest  in  their  worship,  which  is  always  in  private 
houses,  and  very  much  secluded,  as  the  government  of 
Russia  is  hostile  to  them.  It  is  on  this  account  a  small 
portion  of  them  have  removed  to  Turkey.  Brother 
Flocken  has  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  religious  origin 
of  this  remarkable  people,  and  the  account  they  give  of 
themselves  is,  that  about  ninety  years  ago  two  respectable 
persons,  a  gentleman  and  lady,  were  attached  to  the 
Russian  embassy  in  London.  While  residing  there  they 
became  acquainted  with  a  people  who  worshiped  God  in 
private  houses,  did  not  use  the  ritual,  prayed  extempo¬ 
raneously,  sung  with  great  freedom  and  spirit,  and  re- 


10 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


jected  all  pomp  and  ceremony  in  their  service;  were  of 
grave  and  honest  deportment,  and  given  to  industry, 
frugality,  and  benevolence ;  that  their  intercourse  with 
these  people  so  impressed  them  that  when  they  returned  to 
Russia  they  spread  their  own  religious  views  and  expe¬ 
rience  among  the  people,  until  now  they  say  more  than 
jive  millions  of  people  in  the  south  of  Russia  and  in  the 
adjoining  provinces  of  Turkey  belong  to  their  associa¬ 
tion.  There  is  a  regular  organization  among  them. 
Their  chief  resides  in  Russia,  and  subordinate  chiefs  in 
other  subordinate  cities.  Some  of  them,  Brother  Flocken 
says,  are  truly  converted. 

Now  the  question  is,  Who  were  these  people  whom 
these  two  Russians  found  in  London  say  ninety  years 
ago?  There  can  be  but  one  answer,  and  that  is,  The 
Methodists.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  people  in  Bulgaria 
and  the  south  of  Europe  raised  up  and  prepared  by  the 
early  Methodists  in  England  to  receive  the  Gospel  at  the 
hands  of  our  mission.  And  we  have  a  missionary  born 
in  the  south  of  Russia,  and  speaking  the  Russian  language, 
as  also  the  German  and  French,  and  sent  by  Providence 
to  America  to  be  converted  and  prepared  to  return  to 
this  remarkable  people,  and  offer  to  them  the  pure  evan¬ 
gelical  religion.  Is  not  the  hand  of  God  in  this  ?  Brother 
Flocken  is  in  daily  communication  with  these  interesting 
people,  has  a  large  school  among  them,  attends  their 
meetings,  and  answers  their  inquiries,  and  explains  the 
Scriptures  to  them.  They,  having  received  religious  in¬ 
formation,  transmit  it  to  their  chief  communities  in  South 
Russia,  and  thus  our  Bulgarian  mission  is  operating 
effectually  in  Russia  as  well  as  in  Bulgaria.  Returning 
from  a  recent  visit  to  Odessa,  in  Russia,  Brother  Flocken 
advises  us  of  a  wide-spread  and  deep  desire  of  the  Ger¬ 
man  colonies  in  that  vicinity  to  haATe  our  mission  extend 
to  them,  and  that  they  are  ready  to  support  it.  Thus 
acting  directly  upon  Russia,  and  co-operating  with  the 
Protestant  element  in  Hungary,  our  mission  is  an  essen¬ 
tial  agency  for  the  restoration  and  extension  of  Protestant¬ 
ism  in  southeastern  Europe.  Will  our  pastors  and 
people  comprehend  the  true  significance  of  this  young 
mission  in  European  Turkey,  and  by  their  generous  con¬ 
tributions  to  the  treasury  justify  the  bishop  in  sending 
forward  a  master-spirit  to  take  the  superintendence  of 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


11 


this  difficult  and  delicate  mission,  as  authorized  by  the 
General  Missionary  Committee  ?  Let  the  Church  think 
of  the  reviving  empire  of  Protestantism  in  southeastern 
Europe,  at  which  this  mission  aims. 

Foreign  German  Missions. 

Upon  the  pacification  of  Europe,  in  1815,  the  people 
expected  civil  and  religious  liberty,  for  which  they  had 
fought  and  conquered  at  the  battles  of  Leipsic  and 
Waterloo,  and  which  had  been  promised  them  upon  the 
fall  of  Napoleon. 

But  the  governments  of  Europe  deceived  them,  and 
then  they  •turned  their  eyes  toward  the  United  States, 
which  began  to  manifest  to  the  world  great  material 
prosperity,  and  complete  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
and  to  offer  for  sale  millions  of  acres  of  rich  lands  at  a 
mere  nominal  price.  This  condition  of  things  in  Europe 
and  in  America  gave  rise  to  that  vast  emigration  from  the 
former  to  the  latter,  which  is  the  most  striking  charac¬ 
teristic  of  the  last  forty  years.  These  people  came  solely 
with  a  view  of  improving  their  worldly  condition ,  having 
no  thought  of  religious  benefits.  But  when  they  saw  our 
simple,  unostentatious  forms  of  evangelical  religion,  and 
felt  its  direct  and  earnest  power  in  public  worship,  their 
hearts  were  touched,  and  they  readily  yielded.  This 
was  more  strikingly  the  case  among  the  Germans,  under 
the  ministry  and  worship  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  The  religious  experience  of  these  strangers 
was  clear  and  powerful,  and  they  naturally  declared  it  to 
their  countrymen  in  America,  and  by  many  and  ardent 
letters  to  their  countrymen  in  Germany.  This  corre¬ 
spondence  created  a  strong  desire  in  Germany  to  hear 
and  experience  this  evangelical  Gospel  there,  and  the 
Methodist  Church  was  uro-ed  to  send  a  mission  to  Ger- 
many,  with  a  view  to  influence  the  people,  and  to  act 
upon  the  State  Churches  to  which  they  belonged,  as  early 
Methodism  had  done  in  England. 

In  1849  we  sent  five  true  and  tried  brethren,  and  said 
to  them,  If  this  mission  is  of  God,  he  will  raise  up  men  in 
Germany  to  help  you,  as  he  raised  up  men  in  England  to 
help  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield.  They  went,  trusting 
in  God  and  in  the  promised  support  of  the  Church.  They 


12 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


set  up  their  banners  in  the  free  city  of  Bremen  as  their 
center,  and  commenced  working  outwardly,  preaching 
the  Gospel  round  about  from  Bremen.  Sometimes  they 
were  unhindered,  and  sometimes  in  prison  ;  but  God  has 
wrought  with  them  and  blessed  them,  until  their  missions 
now  extend  from  Hamburgh  and  Berlin  in  the  north  to 
Frankfort-on-the-Main  in  the  south  ;  and  from  the  sea  at 
Bremerhaven  on  the  west,  through  Germany  and  into 
Switzerland  to  Lake  Leman  in  the  east. 

Their  work  is  in  the  form  of  an  Annual  Mission  Con¬ 
ference,  divided  into  four  presiding  elder  districts,  and 
these  into  circuits  and  stations,  with  their  Sunday-schools. 
They  have  three  periodical  papers,  one  Missionary  Insti¬ 
tute  for  training  their  young  men,  a  Book  Concern  with 
a  good  capital,  a  Tract  Society  with  a  moderate  capital, 
that  prints  and  distributes  tracts  (aided  by  the  Parent 
Society  in  America)  in  Turkey,  Russia,  Hungary,  and 
France,  as  well  as  in  Germany,  and  a  printing  establish¬ 
ment  for  printing  Bibles,  (aided  by  the  American  Bible 
Society,)  tracts,  religious  books,  and  periodicals,  all  of 
which  have  a  very  encouraging  circulation.  The  follow¬ 
ing  summary,  which  shows  the  actual  condition  of  the 
mission  at  the  close  of  1860,  does  not  fairly  indicate  its 
success,  as  the  largest  proportion  of  their  members  emi¬ 
grate  to  America  and  join  our  German  Churches  here. 
And  one  great  element  of  success  is  the  reviving  influ¬ 
ence  which  the  mission  exerts  on  the  old  formal  State 
Churches,  as  early  Methodism  did  on  the  Church  of 
England. 

Summary. 


Missionaries .  15 

Helpers  (students  in  Missionary  Institute,)  not  yet 

admitted  to  the  Conference .  17 

Members  in  communion .  1,051 

Probationers . 586 

Local  preachers .  29 

Church  property .  $63,100 

Contributions  to  Missionary  Society  (1860) .  $802 


The  Sunday-School,  Tract  Society,  and  American  Bible 
Society  statistics  are  referred  to  those  institutions  sev¬ 
erally. 

Will  the  Church  allow  this  great  work  in  Germany  to 
be  curtailed  and  crippled  ? 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


18 


Scandinavian  Missions. 

These  are  in  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  and  are 
yet  in  their  infancy,  having  been  commenced  in  1854. 
They  arose  in  the  same  manner  as  our  foreign  German, 
only  the  first  converts  in  America  were  intelligent  young 
men  who  came  to  New  York  as  sailors ,  and  were  con¬ 
verted  at  the  Swedish  Bethel  Ship  in  the  North  River. 
When  they  returned  home  they  began  to  preach  and 
exhort  with  wonderful  power,  and  a  great  awakening 
followed.  Being  inexperienced  in  Church  affairs,  they 
urged  us  to  send  them  men  to  take  charge  of  and  or¬ 
ganize  the  work.  We  sent  them  Brother  Willerup. 
The  force  in  the  mission  at  the  close  of  I860  was  six 
missionaries  and  three  colporteurs.  The  condition  of 
the  mission  is  as  follows : 


STATIONS. 

Churclien. 

Members. 

Local 

Preachers. 

Exhorters. 

Sunday- 

Schools. 

Children. 

Porsgrund . 

1 

90 

1 

50 

Rarpsborg . 

1 

250 

2 

2 

1 

37 

Edsberg  and  Holand . 

1 

32 

1 

12 

Frederikshald . 

1 

184 

3 

6 

2 

35 

Copenhagen  . 

68 

# 

1 

22 

Enningdalen . 

13 

* 

# 

, 

Frederickstadt . 

• 

26 

• 

• 

• 

•  . 

Total . 

4 

663 

5 

8 

6 

156 

This  mission  cannot  fulfill  its  great  work  until  it  has  a 
respectable  church  in  the  city  of  Copenhagen.  The 
General  Missionary  Committee,  at  its  session,  Novem¬ 
ber,  1,  1861,  made  preliminary  grants  to  accomplish  this 
great  end,  if  the  Church  will  sustain  it  by  her  contribu¬ 
tions. 


South  American  Mission. 

This  is  our  lone  mission  in  South  America,  and  is  in 
the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres.  It  is  under  the  charge  of 
Rev.  W.  Goodfellow,  and  addresses  itself  to  the  English- 
speaking  population.  It  is  ably  conducted,  and  pays  its 
own  current  expenses.  It  has  long  asked  for  means  to 
extend  itself,  but  we  have  them  not. 


14 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


Domestic  Missions. 

These  are  under  the  care  of  the  several  annual  con¬ 
ferences,  and,  taken  as  a  whole,  form  a  very  large  and 
very  important  part  of  our  missionary  work.  They  are 
among  the  emigrant  populations,  as  the  Germans,  Danes, 
Norwegians,  Swedes,  Welsh,  and  French;  and  among 
the  English-speaking  population  in  destitute  parts  of  our 
older  work,  and  particularly  in  the  new  settlements  in 
our  vast  western  and  northwestern  regions,  extending 
nearly  to  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  and  over  the 
Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  coast.  Our  domestic 
missionary  work  has  received ,  as  it  has  hitherto  deserved , 
much  the  largest  portion  of  our  missionary  money. 
Under  the  fostering  care  of  the  Missionary  Society  a 
goodly  number  of  these  domestic  missions  every  year 
become  self-supporting  Churches ,  and  begin  to  repay  the 
money  they  received  in  their  infancy.  The  following 
tables  will  show  what  God  hath  wrought  in  these  missions : 


German  Domestic  Missions,  commenced  in  1836. 


CONFERENCES. 

Mission¬ 

aries. 

Members. 

Probation¬ 

ers. 

Local 

Preachers. 

1 

Churches. 

Value. 

Parsonages. 

Value. 

Missionary 

Collections. 

New  York . 

27 

1,824 

498 

17 

24 

$92,700 

6 

$6,900 

$540  76 

Itock  River . 

42 

2,551 

736 

25 

50 

61,750 

25 

5,450 

446  87 

Upper  Iowa . 

33 

1,318 

368 

14 

24 

24,010 

11 

3,860 

344  86 

Cincinnati . . 

30 

2,092 

360 

25 

41 

73,275 

11 

6,550 

1,271  80 

North  Ohio . 

31 

2,249 

304 

21 

m 

52,850 

15 

8,300 

922  25 

S.  E.  Indiana. . . 

27 

2,865 

351 

30 

48 

54,850 

17 

8,580 

1,427  22 

Illinois . 

49 

2,153 

424 

36 

45 

63,200 

15 

7,800 

669  31 

South.  Illinois.. 

28 

1,910 

283 

34 

36 

52,825 

14 

6,650 

293  61 

California . 

5 

80 

23 

1 

5 

31,000 

3 

1,325 

143  0< 

Total . 

272 

17,642 

3,348 

203 

31H 

$507,460 

117 

$55,355 

$6,059  0 

Swedish,  Danish,  and  Norwegian  Missions,  commenced  in  1856. 


CONFERENCES. 

Mission¬ 

aries. 

Members. 

Probation¬ 

ers. 

Local 

Preachers. 

Churches. 

Value. 

Parsonages. 

Value. 

Missionary 

Collections. 

New  York . 

2 

64 

ii 

2 

1 

$11,000 

$100  00 

Erie . 

1 

86 

20 

1 

1,500 

19  50 

Central  Illinois. 

13 

824 

214 

10 

12 

17,500 

3 

$900 

290  00 

Wisconsin . 

3 

144 

34 

1 

3 

10,000 

1 

500 

60  36 

Minnesota . 

11 

221 

164 

7 

3 

2,400 

2 

450 

157  78 

West  Wisconsin 

4 

134 

31 

2 

1 

1,000 

.  . 

.... 

11  60 

Total . 

34 

1.473 

474 

22 

21 

$43,000 

6 

$1,850 

$689  24 

OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


15 


French  Missions. 

Two  missionaries,  fifty  members,  thirty-six  proba¬ 
tioners,  two  churches,  worth  two  thousand  dollars. 


Welsh  Missions. 


CONFERENCES. 

Mission¬ 

aries. 

Members. 

Probation¬ 

ers. 

Local 

Preachers. 

Churches. 

Value. 

Parsonages. 

Value. 

i 

Missionary 

Collections. 

East  Baltimore. 

i 

28 

12 

1 

1 

$450 

New  York  East. 

i 

28 

1 

2 

,  ,  ,  , 

Troy . 

i 

•  •  • 

,  , 

# 

i 

3,000 

•  .  •  * 

Black  River. . . . 

i 

80 

29 

2 

.... 

•  •  •  . 

Oneida . 

2 

79 

2 

1 

2 

2,000 

$12  00 

Wyoming . 

1 

45 

7 

2 

1 

1,000 

21  32 

Ohio . 

1 

36 

3 

1 

1 

1,500 

i 

$100 

30  00 

Wisconsin . 

3 

132 

24 

1 

3 

1,300 

34  41 

Pittsburgh . 

1 

115 

12 

• 

1 

4,000 

.... 

.  .  .  . 

Total . 

12 

543 

90 

10 

10 

12,250 

l 

$100 

$97  73 

American  Domestic  Missions. 

These  are  found  in  every  annual  conference,  and  are 
instituted  and  administered  by  the  conferences  severally. 
The  knowledge  of  them  in  detail  does  not  come  to  the 
office  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary;  but  we  know  there 
are  hundreds  of  them,  and  the  great  majority  growing 
into  self-supporting  Churches. 

The  preceding  is  a  very  rapid  and  condensed  picture 
of  our  missions  at  home  and  abroad.  In  them  are  em¬ 
ployed  over  six  hundred  men  preaching  the  Gospel,  sup¬ 
ported  in  whole  or  in  part  by  the  Missionary  Society. 
Experience  has  brought  our  missionary  system  to  a  high 
degree  of  order  and  efficiency,  and  it  challenges  the  con¬ 
fidence  and  the  admiration  of  the  Christian  world.  Will 
the  Church  show  herself  equal  to  the  maintenance  of  it  ? 
or  must  it  be  stopped,  or  even  deranged  for  want  of 
support  ?  Let  the  pastors  and  people  answer. 

How  are  the  missions  carried  on  f  W e  answer : 

1.  The  collections  and  subscriptions  are  made  regu¬ 
larly  in  every  church  and  congregation,  and  in  every 
Sunday-school,  according  to  a  plan  laid  down  in  the  Dis- 


16 


OUR  MISSIONARY  PICTURE. 


cipline,  by  authority  of  General  Conference.  See  Disci¬ 
pline,  p.  207. 

2.  The  appropriations  are  made  in  each  year  by  the 
General  Missionary  Committee,  which  comes  from  dis¬ 
tant  parts  of  the  Church,  and  by  the  Board  and  bishops, 
jointly. 

3.  The  annual  conferences  administer  the  funds  given 
to  them  severally  for  the  support  of  their  own  missions. 

4.  The  Board  administers  the  funds  appropriated  to 
Foreign  Missions. 

5.  All  appropriations  for  domestic  missions  are  drawn 
for  by  the  bishops  presiding  at  the  conferences  severally. 

6.  The  appropriations  to  foreign  missions  are  drawn 
for  by  the  superintendent  of  each,  upon  letters  of  credit 
furnished  semi-annually. 

7.  The  bishops  appoint  all  missionaries  at  home  and 
abroad,  except  such  as  are  raised  up  in  the  foreign  mis¬ 
sions,  and  by  them  received  and  appointed. 

8.  Assuming  the  annual  contributions  to  amount  to 
$300,000,  the  actual  expense  of  collecting  and  disbursing 
this  sum  will  scarcely  be  three  per  cent.  The  reason  of 
this  is,  the  pastors  with  their  missionary  committees 
attend  to  the  collections  in  every  church  and  congrega¬ 
tion  without  any  charge  therefor ,  and  success  in  this  re¬ 
spect  is  considered  an  honor  to  the  pastor. 

In  conclusion,  we  ask  the  pastors  and  people,  with 
such  missionary  work  and  such  a  system,  to  support  it. 
Shall  the  great  and  holy  cause  falter  in  its  action  ?  Let 
every  one  answer  by  a  contribution,  It  shall  not  be. 

New  York,  November,  1861. 


FOEM  OF  BEQUEST  OF  MONEY. 


“  I  give  and  bequeath  to  ‘  The  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,’  incor¬ 
porated  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  the  sum  of  dollars,  and  the 

receipt  of  the  Treasurer  thereof  shall  be  a  suf¬ 
ficient  discharge  to  my  executors  for  the  same.” 


FOEM  OF  DEVISE  OF  LAND. 


“I  give  and  devise  to  the  ‘Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,’  incorpo¬ 
rated  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  the  following  lands  and  premises ;  that  is 
to  say,  (describe  them,)  ,  to  have 

and  to  hold  the  same,  with  the  appurtenances, 
to  the  said  Society,  its  successors,  and  assigns 
forever.” 

Note. — We  advise  that  the  will  be  drawn  by  a  legal  gentleman  who 
is  a  friend  of  our  Church,  and  executed  under  his  direction.  Thou¬ 
sands  of  dollars  have  been  lost  by  defects  in  wills. 


VALUABLE  HINTS. 

- - 

1.  Let  each  Sunday-school  "be  organized  into  a 
Juvenile  Missionary  Society,  in  pursuance  of  provi¬ 
sion  in  the  Discipline.  We  must  now  rely  more  on 
the  smaller  contributions  of  the  million  than  on  the 
princely  contributions  of  the  few.  We  must  rely  on 
the  children  of  the  Church . 

2.  Let  the  monthly  missionary  prayer-meeting  be 
cherished  by  all. 

3.  Do  not  let  the  public  annual  missionary  collec¬ 
tion  be  put  off  too  late  in  the  conference  year.  This 
is  all  important  to  success. 

4.  The  honor  and  prominence  of  our  Church  are 
both  deeply  involved  in  our  maintaining,  triumph¬ 
antly,  our  missionary  work  at  home  and  abroad. 

5.  Let  us  give  more  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  God 
and  the  world,  and  less  from  impulse.  Let  us  train 
ourselves  and  our  children  up  in  this  glorious  work. 


